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Outside Magazine October 2001
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Trends
I'm Too Sexy for My Ax
A couture house embraces the alpinista look
By Michelle Pentz


High style: Climbing gear hits the catwalk in Paris, March 2001
THE RAG TRADE has always drawn inspiration from the unlikeliest quarters—remember the early 1990s heroin-chic phase? But as far as we know, high fashion has never paid much attention to the world of exploration—a fact that made last March's pret-a-porter show in Paris, where this fall's clothing lines were previewed, something of a watershed moment in outdoor couture.

This season, in the wake of Prada Sport's big move into high-end technical apparel, several leading fashion houses are embracing adventure as a key theme. Gucci, for example, now offers a $2,400 surfboard. No designer, however, has ventured further into thin air than Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel's connoisseur of class, whose new collection includes a climbing helmet ($195), a climbing-harness inspired belt ($130), and an ice ax that, we're sorry to report, is not for sale at any price. Chanel produced only two, as runway props. "There is no reason that sportswear and fashion should be considered incompatible," says Lagerfeld of the collection, which this month ships to Bloomie's, Neiman's, and Chanel boutiques. "Everybody needs something real to wear on the slopes—not just to show off at St. Moritz or Gstaad at parties." And while a $640 Chanel mountaineering boot may not be for "everybody," when one considers alpinism's aristocratic roots, it's not that much of a stretch. "In Europe, mountaineering was the sport of kings," says Eliza Moran, 54, who modeled in Paris as a teenager and who now serves as the U.S. delegate to the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation. "This is absolutely part of the couture-house tradition."

Of course, none of this gear is meant to be taken seriously. "It's more fashion than function," says a Chanel official. Yet the line is generating some buzz among purists.Says American Alpine Club vice-president Linda McMillan, "This is cool!"


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